"On that morning in September, as I watched the World Trade
Center buildings fall, I felt I must be living through part of
an invented story, and I know many other people felt that same.
As I watched those Pakistani boys dance with joy at a blow successfully
thrust into the side of an enemy, I realized that they were making
an entirely different story out of the pictures from the one I
was making. All this made me think, yet again, about the power
of stories in human lives. . . the way human beings all tend to
make up parts of their own stories, to simplify and edit them,
dividing the world into "goodies" and "baddies"
(I am using the words we used in the playgrounds of my childhood).
Back then, we were always the "goodies"; the "baddies"
were other people out there. I sat in the dark, watching those
great buildings explode and fall, and thought, automatically,
of friends. The boys watched the same thing and thought of enemies."

We think back to 9/11/01, that day that may replay forever
in the minds and hearts of those who experienced it. That 9/11 was, as
FDR said of 12/07/41, "a day that will live in infamy." 9/11
was the day that U.S. citizens were forced to recognize that we are a
part of a wider world in which people in too many countries live with
fear, destruction, and terrorism every day. This nation's wounds are still
raw, but most of us have been able to move on, to push the images of burning
and falling towers behind the veil of memory. But those images sneak out
at odd moments and haunt us with all that was lost on that day. Even as
that happens, however, we are aware that many in our world are not able
to move on; they are trapped in a terror that does not end, that has been
with them a lifetime. Often it is the short-and frequently shortened-lifetimes
of children that are most affected by adult hatred and war. It is the
children who suffer most. The words of children's authors throughout this
site provide insight into and perspective on young people coping with
their first encounter with terrorism in America.

Now amidst the debates about
how to commemorate the date and what we will see on the site of the Two
Towers, we need to look, not to the past, but toward the future. We need
to remember the children. After WWII we honored fallen heroes and rebuilt
our nation by establishing the GI Bill, by providing education, housing,
and financial opportunities for the young men and women who led the social
and economic revolutions of the 20th century. We responded to a past tragedy
with a promise for the future. Can we do less for the 21st century?

As educators, we must ask ourselves:
· What is the legacy for us and for our children of those relentless
images of the WTC, the Pentagon, and that field in Pennsylvania?
· Will any of us ever again feel completely safe in an airplane,
on a city street, or even in our own homes or schools?
· How can we help young people move beyond fear and despair, from
grief to consolation, and then to hope and even to celebration?

"I keep thinking-if people who are angry, or frustrated,
could use words instead of violence, how would our world be different?
Maybe if enough of us keep in practice using our own honest words,
that basic human act can help balance bigger things in the world."

The strength of our nation
is in its people, and obviously some of that strength was lost with those
who lost their lives on 9/11. The buildings were the more visible symbols
of that loss. But New York, Washington, and all our cities are filled
with monuments to human lives and achievements. Rebuilding the commercial
and financial centers lost on 9/11 and creating some memorial is essential,
but it is not enough. We must invest in our people. Perhaps it is time
to look forward by looking back. New York City is an international symbol
of the US, and we who preach humanity to the rest of the world could demonstrate
the power of humanity by again investing in affordable housing and education
for New York City residents. Deteriorated homes and schools are as much
a blight on our cities as is Ground Zero, and we allowed these tragedies
to happen. Now, when many are ready to go to war, let us brush off those
old wars on poverty and ignorance. Let is prove to the rest of the world,
and to ourselves, that we really do care about humane treatment of and
services to people and that we have the imagination and the will to make
a difference for those who have been shortchanged as many of us prospered.

"Tikvah means hope and hope is represented by children. It
is they who must justify our hope in education, human relations,
and social justice. In other words: they represent our hope in
a future which is an improvement on our past. . . .Nothing is
so despairing to some of us as the suffering of children, nor
is anything as uplifting as the endeavor to help them in their
conquest of happiness."

COMMEMORATING 9/11 WITH CHILDREN

The most important thing to
remember when discussing 9/11 with children is to listen to them and to
follow their leads. There has been a great deal written about how to commemorate
the events of that day with young people and many resources prepared to
do so. As adults working with children, we should familiarize ourselves
with these resources, evaluate them, and be prepared to share and discuss
them with individuals or groups of children as appropriate.

It will be difficult to insulate
children from the rebroadcasts of and commentaries about 9/11 and critical
to consider the effects these may have on them. Some young children may
not be able to distinguish between re-creation and reality and might believe
that those events are actually happening again.

All the television networks
will no doubt have some coverage of the anniversary of 9/11, and many
will have special programming for children. Many networks will certainly
be mindful of young viewers in their programming as well. For true children's
coverage, youngsters will benefit from Arthur the aardvark's perspective
on the aftermath of 9/11 on PBS. Parents should take the same precautions
they would take with children viewing other horrific or frightening material.
That is, they should determine what their children can watch, view it
with them, and discuss it during or after the programming.

Families, religious groups,
and others in our communities will have their own ways of commemorating
9/11 with children. As always, the role of educators is to help young
people look carefully at past events so that we might learn from them
as we move forward. As we do so, we must avoid absolutes and false dichotomies.
While some have heaped blame on our own country and its leaders, past
and present; others have voiced their blind hatred toward all Middle-Easterners
or Muslim peoples. Neither is an appropriate or thoughtful response.

"Why? Because if we are-and we certainly are-the most dominant
country in the world, we must also be the most aware. We have
to be in touch with the rest of the world, not simply visitors
who stop in and buy and sell, or images on a screen, or sounds
from a boom box. To be truly global is to be in contact with everyone,
so that we know where pockets of hatred are rising, or where need
is turning to desperation, or ignorance to violence. The obligation
of our success is communication. The thousands of deaths on September
11 are a terrible price to pay for what can seem such a simple
truth. But at least if we come away from this tragedy with a sense
that there is something we can do, and must do-learn one another's
languages, listen to one another's music, pay attention to one
another's leaders and policies, study one another's faith's, be,
together, citizens of the world-then it will have, at a great
price, helped us to move on to the future.Perhaps in ten, or twenty,
or fifty, or one hundred years when we ask why, why did it happen,
we, or our children, or their children, will say: because everyone
was just beginning to learn that they shared a planet, and had
to live together as attentively, as thoughtfully, as observantly
as all members of the same family. If they do say that, they will
also thank those who gave up their lives to teach us the one lesson
living on earth demands of us all."

Story is a particularly effective
way to help young people deal with powerful events. The personal stories
that resulted from 9/11 have, as good stories always have, both drawn
us into those events and given us some handles on ways to make meaning
out of the chaos of that day. Stories can also help children understand
other cultures that some are quick to call our "enemies." An
appreciation for the similarities and differences between and among cultures
may help young people grow up with a sense of humanity rather than hatred
toward those whose lives are very different from their own. See Islamic
and Muslim Culture and Literature for Young People: Islamic
Traditions and Muslim Cultures for children's picture books and websites.

"It is a dangerous world but it is wonderful, too. . .happy
and hopeful for many of us. Well, I am certainly hopeful a lot
of the time and the reading and writing of stories are two of
the things that make me happy. But I never forget just how dangerous
stories can be when the simple truth of the story is made to stand
for the complicated truth of the everyday world. Story truth and
world truth both have important parts to play in our lives, but
they work differently. In the everyday life we have to struggle
toward truth. There is no end to the struggle and it is very tiring,
and yet we must never give in. We must never allow the difficult
truths of real life to be replaced by the simpler truths of the
story."

Violence is, unfortunately,
a factor in the lives of many of the world's children. Young people in
many countries face real bullets, land mines, and other evidences of war
in their daily lives. Too many US children are hardened to such violence
through the constant bombardment of virtual violence on television, video
games, and other media. Real-life violence and the permanence of death
may be difficult to comprehend for youngsters who have seen thousands
of cartoon characters flattened or blown-up only to re-appear eager to
fight again in the next instance or episode. Incidences of school shootings
in recent years are evidence of the culture of violence; that is all too
pervasive in our society. See The
Culture of Violence in Picture Books and The
Culture of Violence: Children, Guns, and War." Many of the youthful
perpetrators of these school shootings have stated that the particular
form of violence called "bullying" by their classmates made
their young lives unbearable. See "Bullying."

Now, as we confront the chilling
reminders of 9/11, we must help young people replace hate with hope, terror
and despair with determination. The best way to do this would be to rebuild,
not only the buildings at Ground Zero, but the foundation for the renewal
of our belief in this country as the land of opportunity for all.

"I am a New Yorker. I smelled the smoke, saw the ash from
the towers, felt the fear settle over my shoulder, had the nightmares,
lit the candles, went to the funerals. I wish to God that none
of it had ever happened and I thank God that I was here when it
did. I've been changed forever-that much I know. And because of
that, I want to teach. I want to teach because I want to learn
and understand. I believe we have a choice in this world, we,
the children of war. We can learn from the hate, we can learn
how to stop it, or we can learn to hate even more."

[fictional words of
a character by Joan Bauer in 911: The Book of Help. Ed. by Michael
Cart with Marc Aronson and Marianne Carus. Chicago, IL: Cricket
Books, 2002.]